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Northridge, CA: The Second City Comedy Troup -- the comedy group that launched the careers of Mike Myers, Bill Murray, Steve Carell, Tina Fey, Jim Belushi, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and countless others -- will come to the Plaza del Sol Performance Hall (formerly The Performing Arts Center) at California State University, Northridge, for a special campus event at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 30. Performing a special medley of classic scenes, songs, and improvisation, the Second City's National Touring Company is always original, daring, and hilarious.
Almost all Second City actors got their start in the Touring Company, also including Bonnie Hunt, Jeremy Piven, Martin Short, Stephen Colbert, Halle Berry, Sean Hays, John Belushi, Eugene Levy, Dan Aykroyd, John Candy, Shelly Long, Fred Willard, George Wendt, Tim Meadows and Dan Castellaneta (the voice of Homer Simpson)—to name a few.
"What do love, Iraq and rap music producers have in common? They're all targets of the Second City, the infamous comedy/improv troupe from Chicago," writes Anna Rosenstein in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "It's like the Harvard of improvisational theater. That should assure you that the current class is some of the best and brightest. Sure, cheesy humor isn't beneath them and not a one will skip a sexual innuendo if the opportunity presents itself. Anything for a laugh! And the laughs come fast and furious," she adds.
The Second City has also been producing television and film since the early Sixties and is probably best known for the classic Emmy-Award winning series SCTV, which was produced from 1976 through 1984 and can still be seen on TV Land in the US. The series, which made stars of Second City alumni such as John Candy, Andrea Martin, Catherine O'Hara, Eugene Levy, Joe Flaherty, Dave Thomas, Rick Moranis, and Martin Short, is currently enjoying renewed success in home video and DVD with the release of the first of five boxed sets. Since its release in 2004, SCTV has climbed to the top of the home video sales charts and garnered dozens of rave reviews, from The New York Times to USA Today.
Second City Entertainment also works in collaboration with The Second City’s resident stage companies, alumni, and students in its Training Centers to develop original concepts, projects and scripts for television and film.
The Second City Troup has been featured in several television projects over the past two years, including an A&E documentary, The Laugh Track, and the Bravo interview series, The Second City Presents . . . with Bill Zehme.
By fostering television and film writing skills along with improv and cultivating industry connections, Second City Entertainment has become the bridge between Chicago and Hollywood for many Second City alumni. Working with some of comedy’s biggest stars and the breakout talent of tomorrow, this enterprising company is fast becoming a frontrunner in the media world, and where better to find this upcoming comedy talent but at Cal State Northridge—launching pad for so many in the entertainment industry! |
